People, Places, Theology Summer issue 2017 the EDGE The quarterly magazine of the Diocese of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church THE LORD’S PRAYER visualised GROWING TOGETHER MEET THE ... Writers A PLACE TO BELONG The Edge Vol 21: 4 In this issue ... Editor: Gillian McKinnon If you would like additional copies p.4 Growing Together of The Edge for your church “There is a feeling around at present that we are at a crunch point, or group, please contact the a hinge point, where there is so much change going on in the world Diocesan Office (details on this and the church today that it is more vital than ever that page). If you are able to help with we listen to one another and to God.” the distribution of the magazine, please also get in touch. Thanks! p.6 Tiny Church, Big Heart The views expressed in The Edge “If you were asked what building you might find wedged between are not necessarily those of the a chip shop and a hairdressers on the high street of the lively Editor, the Edinburgh Diocese or little town of Linlithgow, it might be some while before you the Scottish Episcopal Church. hazarded a guess at it being a Byzantine-style church” Photographs or other material sent to the magazine for publication are p.8 Meet the ... Writers “To be a writer is to be a storyteller. .” submitted at the owner’s risk. p.10 Diocesan News Photographs: Cover photo: the children’s church p.13 A Place to Belong at St Matthew’s Rosslyn Chapel (see story p. 10) p.2 & p.13: © L’Arche Edinburgh p.6: St Peter’s Linlithgow exterior © Alan Potter p.7: St Peter’s Linlithgow interior © Dixe Wills p.8 & p.9: All photos (except of Elizabeth Kerner) © David Warnes p.11: St John’s © Simon Filsell Diocesan Office 21a Grosvenor Crescent Edinburgh, EH12 5EL Simon Filsell, Diocesan Administrator 0131 538 7033 [email protected] “We support people with a range of gifts and needs, including Samantha Campbell, people with physical disabilities in addition Bishop’s P.A. to their learning disabilities.” 0131 538 7044 [email protected] p.14 Views and Reviews p.15 Gazette News and resources are available on the Diocesan website at: p.16 The Edge Agenda www.edinburgh.anglican.org Twitter: @EdinDiocese Twitter: @BishopEdinburgh Facebook.com/DioceseEdinburgh Scottish Charity Number: SC001214 22 TheThe DioceseDiocese ofof EdinburghEdinburgh ELECTIONS, ELECTIONS Rt Rev John Armes, Bishop of Edinburgh As I write this, a year on from the Brexit referendum, we are back at the polling booths. We may be understandably weary of politicking but we are wise to take a deep breath and accept a fresh invitation to exercise our hard-won democratic rights. A General Election is very different from a single question referendum, of course, but last year’s decision to leave the EU puts almost everything about our future up for grabs. And so this is an opportunity for us to make a statement about what kind of future we want. Commenting on the Brexit vote last year, I suggested that Christians should be wary of making an idol of either our nation or one particular set of constitutional arrangements. To be a good citizen requires us to speak out for the values we believe matter to God: goodness and joy, justice and peace. I also pointed out that Christians cross boundaries and we should therefore be wary of any version of patriotism that builds walls to keep people out. I stand by this. Indeed, developments in the past year have made me all the more determined to hold our political leaders to account. During the election campaign my sense of what God would call Good News moves me to make the following three resolutions. Firstly, I shall challenge untruth. Yes, it is possible to interpret facts differently, but in the end exaggeration can mislead; lazy assumptions distort; and ‘alternative facts’ are simply lies. To say we live in a post-truth world is nonsense. Truth matters more than ever and we should expect all those in the public eye to seek truth and, so far as it lies within them, to speak the truth. Secondly, I will resist the tendency to make people ‘other’. Sticking labels on people is just another way of saying they matter less than I do, making them somehow less human than me. Too often it excuses hostility and anger at people because they are ‘different’. Migrants, asylum seekers, Westerners, Christians, Muslims, Jews are just people, and whether they live in Syria or Singapore, Sudan or Scotland, they matter. It matters to me that unaccompanied refugee children should be given safe haven in Britain; it matters to me that EU citizens who have made their home in Britain should be assured of their future here; it matters to me that my country offers security, protection and aid to those who live far away. And I expect it to matter to politicians too. Thirdly, I shall be wary of a politics that has sold out to the ‘system’ – that is, a politics which is unquestioning about the way things are. Because the way things are has pushed the weakest to the margins and increased the gap between rich and poor. I believe this suggests that the ‘system’ that produces such inequalities is sick. I want politicians to acknowledge this and to encourage a conversation about a future in which the ‘system’ is no longer in thrall to an economics fixated on growth rather than human well being. ‘Economy’, like ‘ecology, is a word rooted in the Greek for house (oikos) and is to do with sharing the one ‘house’, the one world in which we depend on each another. These are my resolutions. They arise for me out of the belief that, although human beings in this world remain imperfect, the Resurrection of Jesus is not just about life after death but calls us to do all we can to cherish life before death. I have to believe that our politicians want to shape a world that benefits everyone. We cannot therefore tolerate the perpetuation of the same old divisions, with the same winners and the same losers. In the end, stable government, democratic discourse and humanitarian values will not take care of us unless we take care of them. +John The Diocese of Edinburgh 3 GROWING TOGETHER by John Conway stories and our thinking, in time for our Autumn Synod, where a flavour of our discussions and stories will be presented. And ultimately our gathering of the wisdom of the Diocese will motivate our action together. There is a feeling around at present that we are at a crunch point, a hinge point, where there is so much change going on in the world and the church today that it is more vital than ever that we listen to one another and to God, to see what is right for us at this point. There is a real hunger around in our society for things of God, and our Episcopal congregations and Diocese have the capacity to meet some of that hunger, in both practical and spiritual ways, as many others are already doing. It is in the context of that hunger, and the struggle of some of churches to survive and respond, while other churches are doing remarkable things, that this is a time to pool our experience together and listen to what God has in store for us and calls us to. Saturdays can be busy and precious, but our hope is that roadshows will be fun, and if you have a heart and a concern for your local church, and how it might grow and Bishop John recently spoke in a coming months. The hope is that develop in the years to come, the video interview about the ‘Growing at least five or more people from roadshows will provide a way of Together’ process which was each church or charge will take part. thinking together about that, gaining launched in May. I’m presenting That is aiming high, but is surely wisdom from others. That is central here a flavour of what his thoughts achievable, and important because to the faith that motivates our lives: are concerning what lies ahead for the more people who come along, spending a few hours on a Saturday our Diocese. the better the roadshows will be. thinking and talking about that, should not be a hardship. The roadshows will gather a Fairly straightforwardly, Growing There are two principal ways in Together is a process for our growth vision from everyone present. That includes the Bishop, who will which you can become involved in together: growth in the unity of Growing Together: our Diocesan family. However, be offering his thoughts on the the process will also result in our priorities for our Diocese. But we Firstly, if you are able, please attend growing together in other ways: want to gather local perspectives one of the four roadshows (in growing in faith and discipleship and stories too. For what might be Bo’ness, Haddington, Galashiels or and the way we are serving others, run-of-the-mill or unexciting to you, Edinburgh – dates are on the poster and growing in numbers too. may well actually be really good and opposite). Go to the one nearest to something that other people will you, or on the date that suits you Growing Together consists, in the want and need to hear. best. If you can’t make any of them, first place, in a series of roadshows then we are hoping to post online The roadshows over the summer – gatherings in different parts of the short videos and other material from months will be gathering those Diocese at different times over the the roadshows to give you a flavour.